Verizon Wireless’ faster 4G LTE network is a “game changer” that will step up competition in the wireless industry, Gleacher & Co. analyst Mark McKechnie wrote today in a note to clients.

McKechnie based his conclusion in part on a test of Verizon’s 4G LTE data card last week here in the Bay Area. While acknowledging that “our study was not scientific,” he described the Verizon network as “lightning fast” with upload speeds of 7 to 15 megabytes per second and download speeds of 11 to 22 Mbps — “both of which were faster than our own wired network.”

“We see dramatically better data performance on the Verizon network and look for a competitive response from other U.S. players,” McKechnie wrote.

Those other U.S. players, of course, include with AT&T Wireless, (for now) the nation’s exclusive carrier for Apple’s iPhone.

McKechnie said he expects Verizon’s move to 4G for heavy data users is intended to clear 3G network capacity ahead of a Verizon iPhone launch. (In this scenario, a 3G Verizon iPhone would be ready early next year, followed by a combined 3G/4G model at some point in the future pending the availability of chips from Qualcomm.)

“We still view the two major ecosystems — Apple and Android — as the leaders in tablets and smartphones” and “as strong ecosystems will take advantage of the improved capabilities and adapt to 4G with a breadth of products,” McKechnie wrote.

Battling for third place, he noted, will be Research In Motion’s BlackBerry family, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard’s recently acquired Palm/webOS platform.

$2.1B buyout for Sunnyvale-based Dionex

Dionex, a Sunnyvale maker of chromotagraphy equipment, has agreed to a buyout worth $118.50 a share, or about $2.1 billion, by Massachusetts scientific equipment manufacturer Thermo Scientific.

The two companies announced today that their boards have both endorsed the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. The purchase price is a 21 percent premium over Dionex’s closing stock price Friday.

“This transaction offers immediate and significant value for our shareholders, as well as the opportunity for our customers and employees to benefit from combining two highly complementary organizations,” Dionex CEO Frank Witney said in a statement announcing the deal.

Dionex was established in 1975 and employs about 1,600. Its equipment is used for environmental analysis and by life sciences, chemical and other industries. Its stock finished regular trading today at $117.82, up $19.65, or 20 percent, from Friday’s closing price.

Netflix stock dropped sharply today, a day after The New York Times reported that Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said the Los Gatos company isn’t charging subscribers enough to cover greater content costs in the future. Netflix charges $7.99 a month for online streaming, with combined online and DVD-by-mail plans starting at $9.99 a month.

“At $8 to $10, it doesn’t have the economics to support high-value programming,” Bewkes said, according to the newspaper.

Hollywood’s big players are expected to push for bigger licensing fees from Netflix after its $25-million-a-year deal with Starz (which gives Netflix the rights to Disney and Sony movies) expires next year.

Netflix stock finished regular trading today at $183.80, down $10.83, or 5.6 percent, from Friday’s close (but still well above its 52-week low of $48.52).

Silicon Valley tech stocks

Up: Apple, Google, Oracle, VMware.

Down: Intel, Cisco, HP, eBay, Gilead Sciences, Yahoo.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 12.63, or 0.5 percent, to 2,624.91.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor’s 500 index: Up 0.06 to 1,240.46.

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Frank Russell at 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.

WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton challenged Congress on Thursday to combat fake and misleading news on social media, using a post-election appearance to tackle an issue that gripped her presidential campaign and culminated with a shooting incident Sunday in Northwest Washington.